Fisher's Light(105)

Taking Trip’s coat from him, I shake off some of the water and hang it on the coat rack next to the door. I glance out into the driveway and notice Trip’s SUV parked there.

“It must be getting really bad out there if you drove. You never drive,” I comment.

“It’s really kicking up. I wanted to stop over and make sure you were doing okay here. Haven’t seen Fisher since first thing this morning,” Trip tells me. “I’m sure he’s fine.”

Trip doesn’t sound convinced, and it doesn’t make me feel any better. Fisher always answers his phone no matter what he’s doing, and I hope he’s just avoiding my calls. I don’t like the idea of him being out in this storm. I don’t like the idea of Trip being out in it, either, even though it was really sweet of him to check on me.

“You shouldn’t have gone out in this, you could have just called,” I tell him as I watch him rub his left shoulder and wince. “What’s wrong with your arm?”

He shakes it out and gives me a smile. “Eh, I just bumped it on the car door when I got out and the wind took hold of it, it’s nothing.”

I watch him with concern for a few minutes, noticing that his face is flushed and he doesn’t look like he feels well. He shoos me away when I try to help him walk as I lead him into the library and introduce him to Seth and Mary Beth.

They shake hands and everyone but me takes a seat. I can’t sit still, not until I know Fisher is somewhere safe and dry.

“Figured it would be better to wait out the storm here in a much bigger place. With that wind, my little house sounded like it was about ready to be blown off into the ocean,” Trip says with a laugh. “What’s the news saying so far?”

“They still aren’t categorizing it as a hurricane, but that wind is really getting bad,” I tell him.

There’s a loud knock at the front door and Trip and I share a hopeful look before I run back out to the front room. When I see Fisher’s mother hovering on the other side of the door, shielding her face from the wind and rain, I quickly unlock the door and have to brace myself against it as I hold it open for her to enter. Water and leaves come flying into the house, covering the floor as she rushes inside. I slam the door behind her and put the deadbolt back on.

“Grace, what are you doing here?” I ask as she wraps me in a wet hug before handing me a large basket.

“Running around to as many residential homes as I can, passing out supplies. Being the head of the Storm Emergency Committee means my work is never done,” she says with a laugh. “Thank goodness this was my last stop. You don’t mind if I stay here for a little while, do you?”

I peek inside the basket to find bottled water, batteries, flashlights and some snacks.

“Of course not! This is wonderful, Grace, thank you so much. Come on into the library, everyone else is in there right now,” I tell her, leading the way.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I grabbed your mail on the way in. The mailbox door was blown open and I was afraid you might lose some things,” she tells me, handing me a stack of letters and bills that are slightly damp.

I take them from her, handing the basket over to Trip as she sits next to him on the couch. Trip and Seth begin assembling the flashlights while Mary Beth and Grace make their introductions.

Pacing around the room, I flip through the stack of mail to give myself something to do. When I come to a large, white envelope with Fisher’s handwriting on the front, my heart plummets to my feet. There is no return address and no postage, so he didn’t mail the envelope. It looks like he just stuck it in my mailbox at some point after I got the mail yesterday. It looks so much like the envelope that the divorce papers came in that I’m afraid to open it. Had I finally pushed him too far? Is he tired of waiting around for me to get my shit together? I move away from everyone else while they are busy chatting about the storm and force myself to tear open the envelope and pull out the single sheet of paper inside.

Dear Lucy –

I’m sorry for so many things. I don’t even know why I’m saying it to you again, because saying the words isn’t the same as showing you. Right now, I’m showing you how sorry I am. I’m sorry for never sending you a letter before now. You deserve a thousand letters telling you a thousand different ways how much I love you and how much you mean to me. I know you’re afraid and I know you’re worried, but everything will be okay. We were meant to be together. We were meant to fall in love on this island and to spend the rest of our lives together… it was fate. The photo inside proves that.